Upgrade to Dynamic disk 1mb free?

[neilcorbett]

Hi,

Really basic question but i've got a huge doubt in my mind if im right or not....

Ages ago I upgraded the disks on a Windows 2000 Server (I think it was) to Dynamic and the server blue screened on me luckily it was a new build and it turned out you needed 1mb of unallocated disk space for the conversion to work.

I am now in a position where I need to upgrade to dynamic disks on a production server to create a Raid 1 mirror on 2 SATA drives and Disk 1 is 100% allocated and im really unsure about clicking upgrade disks.

The server is a Dell Poweredge running SBS2003 with latest SP for the OS.

Is it safe to click convert disks or do I need that pesky 1mb of disk space not allocated still?

Thanks a lot,

 

[PaulGillespie]

I've never heard of the 1mb issue. Just checked a my only server with software RAID and there is 0 MB in unallocated space so I don't think you'll have an issue, don't take my word for it though!!!

Have a good backup and do it on a Friday night so it it does go belly up you have a weekend to deal with it.

I've done the convertion about 10 times in total and on one of those times it went wrong. I was able to recover it by using the windows repair console though.

 

[neilcorbett]

Hi Paul,

I am 100% certain you need 1mb unallocated in 2k just not sure about 2k3, im manually moving the D drive to the 2nd disk to enable me to have some unallocated space. Can't afford to risk it

I normally convert to Dynamic disks before creating the D Drive but I inherited this system.

Cheers